Gold futures in New York bounced from a 12-week low but faltered at the slippery $600 an ounce level early Wednesday, as a mixture of renewed physical buying and speculative selling kept the market near unchanged, traders said.
Gold briefly rallied at midmorning as the Swiss franc and US Treasury prices rose on currency market rumours about an explosion at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport.
But these markets then pared gains after an official at the airport said there was no explosion. "We held above $580, which is major support, and the physical buying has been amazing from all over," said a gold trader in New York. Market sources also cited Chinese buying on the recent dip. Talk has been rife that China needs to diversify its foreign exchange reserves, which has supported gold prices a bit.
By 10:30 am EDT, December delivery gold at the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division was up 70 cents at $595 an ounce, dealing between $585.60, its lowest price since June 20, to a session high of $600.50.
Estimated COMEX volume was a decent 18,000 lots at 10 am gold has lost $50 or more than 20 percent in value in the last week, fuelled by cross-commodities selling, as weaker crude prices and a steady dollar have dented demand for the metal as an alternative asset.
Negative sentiment in oil markets has hurt commodities as the threat to crude supplies has receded after Iran sounded a softer note on its nuclear ambitions and oil major BP raised hopes of a quick resumption of Alaskan supplies.
UBS analysts said gold's outlook had been damaged by the speculative selling, with bullion's fall below the 200-day moving average at $594 an ounce also making some investment funds more bearish now.
Spot gold rose to $589.40/590.90 an ounce, above its prior late New York quote at $587.80/9.30. Wednesday's afternoon fix in London by bullion dealers was at $589. December silver futures rose 14 cents to $11.28 an ounce, trading from a near two-month low of $10.99 to $11.42. Spot silver climbed to $11.13/11.20 an ounce, up from $10.98/11.05 previously. It fixed on Wednesday at $11.00.
Over at NYMEX, October platinum fell $18.50 to $1,190 an ounce. Spot platinum reached $1,185/1,190. December palladium rose $4.65 to $316.75 an ounce. Spot palladium slipped to $313/318.
Comments
Comments are closed.